Remember, a few months ago, when Alternators Swindle popped op in the new "bubble" style packaging? http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d75/binalternator/new_toys/alternators/swindle_new_european/swindle_new_02.jpg http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d75/binalternator/new_toys/alternators/swindle_new_european/swindle_new_01.jpg This, including the weird "2 in 1" logo, confused the hell out of everyone, even though some people (Maz in particular) soon deduced that this must be the European version of the new bubble packaging. Eventually, that was confirmed when Shockblast ALSO surfaced in the "2 in 1" bubble packaging with not just the standard six, but a whole TWELVE European languages on the packaging. Ever since then, the question has been where this Swindle would be released, since (almost) all countries that regularly get Alternators have already gotten him in the old red packaging. The only major exception was Italy, which eventually got him a few weeks ago... in the red packaging. However, Italy just got Decepticharge about two weeks ago in the new "2 in 1" bubble packaging, so it was only a matter of time until "bubble" Swindle would pop up... and so he did, yesterday. In South Africa. As South African fan Greg Nell (who reported the sighting for Swindle yesterday) confirmed a while ago, South Africa traditionally gets Transformers toys in European packaging. The currently prevalent theory is that this might be due to South Africa being a member of the Commonwealth. So the Swindle mystery has been finally solved... now lets wait which country will get "2 in 1" Shockblast first.
Just because Smegs threatened to send me nude photos of Twin Twist: A quick roundup of other toys being reported from Europe (well, all of them are being distributed by Hasbro's European division) - Star Wars Transformers Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi are out in Germany (originally sighted by Spearhead, who is a member of TFW2005; later confirmed with my own eyes - according to Hasbro Germany, General Grievous is also supposed to be out, but he hasn't been sighted anywhere yet) - Legends of Cybertron wave 1 (Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream & Hot Shot), Star Wars Transformers wave 1 (Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi and General Grievous) and some older Cybertron Scouts, namely Hardtop, the Recon Mini-Con Team and Armohide, are out in Belgium (reported by Cyclone X, who is also a TFW member) - Cybertron Deluxe Class wave 4 (Thunderblast, Brimstone and Crosswise) is out in the Netherlands (reported by Cyclone X again) - Cybertron Scout Class wave 4 (Backstop, Wreckloose, Speed Minicons and Brushguard) is out in Poland (reported by Wallas, who doesn't seem to be registered here) - Cybertron Evac and the Street Speed Mini-Con Team are out in Italy (originally sighted by Shima, Il Corra and St3g0s4ur; reported by Franco Villa, who, if I recall correctly, is registered at TFW under a different name) - Alternators Swindle (bubble packaging) just came out in South Africa, Silverstreak (in the oooold blue packaging) has been out there since December 2005 (originally reported by Greg Nell, whose TFW2005 name I forgot) All of these sightings have been reported through the Trans-Europe-Express group.
Just got confirmation for more South African releases: - Cybertron Scout Class wave 4 (Wreckloose, Backstop, Brushguard and the Street Speed Mini-Con Team) - Cybertron Deluxe Class wave 4 (Brimstone, Crosswise and Thunderblast) - Cybertron Voyager Class wave 3 (Evac)
And dont' forget the SWTFs , grevious, vader and obiwan are here. I have pics if u like P.s. Nevermore , this is my TFW name
We may be further along in the line but i doubt we've got more . We only got wave 1 scouts ,deluxes and ultras. as well as wave 2 voyagers. that was it till swindle, the Swtfs and the wave 4(?) figures arrived this last week. We're likely to get some new ultras and a supreme and then we wait ti llaugust/september for new figures which wil be whatever is the current wave in euope... so we miss out on a lot...